The Young Reserve grade side went into the weekend’s match against Gundagai needing to win to stay in touch with the top five, but as they have done in the past few weeks, they started slowly and let their opposition take control of the first half.

Gundagai scored after only six minutes and from that moment on Young’s defence seemed to open up. The Tigers took full advantage of the situation and at half time the teams went in to the sheds with Gundagai leading 22 points to nil.

The second half started a little better for Young when Brady Lestrange crossed for a try after only two minutes. The signs were promising for a comeback as they have done a number of occasions, but that was short lived with Gundagai crossing for consecutive tries in the 10th and 16th minute.

Young’s Will Dunn scored a late try but a penalty goal to Gundagai sealed the result and at full time Gundagai defeated Young 36-8.

The Players points for the match were, 3 points to Zak Slater who didn’t stop trying through the entire match, 2 points to Thomas Woolford who added some much needed aggression to the team in his first run for the year after a foot injury in the pre-season, and 1 point to Brady Lestrange who was solid all day at fullback.

 By Greg Lestrange 

The U18s Cherrypickers came away with a great 28-22 win against the Gundagai Tigers. In the first half the boys were off to a slow start with Gundagai scoring two tries in the first 15 minutes, but Young responded well coming back with three tries bringing the score to 18-16 at half time. In the second half the boys came out with a great attitude and continued to put points on the board. Unfortunately during the game we lost one of our key players, Will Cannellis to a hamstring injury but overall it was a great win. Try scorers were Laine Edwards, Will Manwaring, Jayden Cutting, Will Cannellis and the match winning try scored by Max Rolfe. Will Manwaring converted four tries. Special mention to Connor Hall and Edward Wood for great attack in the forwards and Brad Carroll in the centres. Big thank you to the 16s who played up for us and to Jacob Lucas who received man of the match. The U18s take on top of the table South City next weekend. 

By Steve Carrol 

16s

The frost had just melted when the 16s ran out to face Gundagai, with the Tigers getting off to a quick start while Young were settling in getting used to not having a couple of their key players. Gundagai led 10 nil in the first 10 mins. Young found there groove and Jacob Lucas scored Young's first try.  Right on half time Harry Fitzpatrick scored in the corner making the score 10-8 at half time. At the half time break Coach Garry Lucas told the boys not to panic and to be patient and the tries would come.  The Young 16s ran out and did just that, with another two tries to Harry Fitzpatrick and one to Jack Rolfe, two goals to Nick Hall with the final score being 24-10. Special thanks to the under 15's for stepping up and helping out as they have done all year.  Players player was a very deserving Harry Fitzpatrick.

By Brad Pettit 

League tag

Gundagai just proved to strong for the Cherryettes, the girls went down 38-0. The second half was a huge improvement on the first, just simple errors and poor execution letting the team down. There are many things to work on this week at training and we hope for an improvement against Junee this weekend.

Elevations restaurants players player went to Ally Smith. She put on an outstanding performance, unsuccessful on three occasions on a try. The effort was there but just Gundagai was all over her. 

By Jess Mcinerney 

Juniors

What was a freezing cold start on Saturday morning Young Junior league took the fields for round 11 of the town comp. In the U7s the Panthers tackled the Eels. With a frozen white field, the Panthers determination was unstoppable. Amazing tries by Cruz Brownlie (1), Jake Mazourdie (3), Jack Willis (2), Carter Mackenzie (1), Mitchell Schiller (1) and Toby Edwards (1). Wonderful tackling every time from Will Bennett, Hugh Bennett and Thomas Corbett. Man of the match went to Jake Mazourdie. In the second game the Bronco’s took on the Sharks. Tries scored for the Bronco’s went to Braith Anderson (4), Zack Milne (3) and Aidan Mesa (3). For the Sharks, Joe, Jett, Lincoln and Cayden were our top try scorers for this week with Braxton and Eddie also busting through the line to score as well. Owen, Oliver and Xavier were amazing in defence and very unlucky not to score as well.

In the u9s we saw the Rabbits up against the Sea Eagles. The Rabbits were on fire from the blow of the whistle with Rex Ravenhall making the first few tackles. The teamwork was fantastic with all player assisting in tackles and tries. Tries by Riley Noakes (3), Jack Woods (3), Archie Challen (1) and Michael Orr (1). Man of the match went to Rex Ravenhall. In the second U9s game the Storm took on the Raiders. For the Storm man of the match went to Max Anderson for great work in dummy half and two tries. Excellent defence and some busting tackles by Cayliss Richens who also scored two tries. Shaun McAllister also scored (1) try with Jordan Dickens and Nate Cullen converting one goal each. Wonderful field runs by Caitlyn Bourne.

In the U11s we saw the Tigers verse the Bulldogs. For the Tigers, this was a cracker of a game in the cold. Really good runs from Corben Bloor, Cooper Smith, Memphis Mundy and Samuel Schilt also made some awesome tackles. Ashley Perkins tried hard and was awarded man of the match.

By the time Young hosted the Wagga Kangaroo’s the sun was out and it was a little warmer. All Pickers put on a fantastic display of footy with the U13s and U15s both defeating the undefeated Kangaroos sides. For the U13s the Kangaroo’s haven’t been beaten in years but the boys played hard and wanted it more, well done boys.

U15s rep 

It was a top of the table clash in the U15s fixture on Saturday with equal first place Wagga Kangaroos playing a very strong Cherrypickers team sitting in second spot. It was always going to be a tough game and Young’s forwards, led by Blake Coombes and Connor Corcoran were outstanding in attack and defence and seemed to always have the upper hand on Wagga with great support from Thomas McIllhatton, Jai Purdie and Campbell Harden.

Ethan Newhams kicking game was outstanding and led to Young’s first two tries to centre Nick Jenkins and Cooper Morrison while centre partner Harry Fitzpatrick was a marked man but still managed to cause huge inroads into Wagga’s defence.

At the back, Cooper Powderly was as safe as a bank and chimed into the backline at every opportunity, he was well supported by Nick Phillips.

Nick Jenkins was a man on a mission in the second half, whacking the opposition and causing havoc with the ball crossing for his second try, with in form hooker Ben Baker and Blake Coombes also crossing for four pointers with Thomas McIllhatton and Ethan Newham slotting three goals between them to take the final score to 26-12.

Kynan Davis is the form five-eight of the competition. While Ethan's running the left side, Kynan has his favored right side players ready to fire and his defence is first class.  Young's depth this year is really its strong point with Charlie Butt, Caleb Coombes, Bene Bonsombiante and Jordan Foster all having a big impact when injected into the game. Charlie and Caleb are two big boys that love the rough stuff while Bene is an absolute tackling machine. Jordan on the other hand is the team’s quiet achiever, he has improved immensely since game one and can play from wing to second row which is a luxury for the coaches to have. We will be at Keith Cullen next week against Wagga Brothers.